Haryana IPS officer suicide: Mahapanchayat demands DGP’s dismissal in 48 hours

A 31-member committee formed to secure the demands of the family of Haryana IPS officer Y. Puran Kumar, who allegedly took his own life on 7 October, has issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the Chandigarh administration and Haryana government demanding the removal of state police chief Shatrujeet Kapur from his position.

Kapur is among the senior police officers accused by Kumar’s wife, IAS officer Amneet P. Kumar, of abetting his suicide.

The committee reached this decision at a mahapanchayat held on Sunday at Guru Ravidas Bhavan in Sector 20, Chandigarh, where a significant police presence was seen.

“The Haryana DGP and the former Rohtak SP should be arrested in the matter. The Haryana government should remove the DGP from his post. We have given 48 hours after which we will decide the next course of action,” a committee spokesperson told reporters following the meeting.

Though six days have elapsed since Kumar, last posted as IG at the Police Training Centre in Rohtak’s Sunaria, died, neither his post-mortem examination nor cremation has been conducted. The family has refused consent pending the meeting of their demands.

Tensions ran high during the mahapanchayat when former Haryana MP Raj Kumar Saini allegedly made a controversial comment, provoking anger among attendees. Calm was restored after organisers urged peace.

The IPS officer’s family appealed for continued support, with a message read aloud on their behalf. Committee members Gurmail Singh and Karamvir highlighted demands for a judicial inquiry and voiced concerns that conducting last rites might impede government action against the accused.

Karamvir remarked, “The family and the Dalit community are apprehensive that if the last rites of the deceased officer are conducted, then the government may not act against the accused.”

He further stated, “If justice is not given to the family, then we will decide the next course of action...We want to know what the Special Investigation Team, which has been constituted by Chandigarh police, has so far done in this case.”

Support for the family has come from an association of Safai Karamcharis in Chandigarh.

The 52-year-old Kumar, a 2001-batch IPS officer, allegedly shot himself dead at his residence in Sector 11, Chandigarh. In an eight-page ‘final note’ he purportedly left behind, Kumar named eight senior IPS officers, including Haryana DGP Kapur and former Rohtak superintendent of police Narendra Bijarniya, accusing them of harassment.

These allegations include caste-based discrimination and targeted mental harassment. In response, the Haryana government transferred Bijarniya and replaced him with IPS officer Surinder Singh Bhoria.

Amneet P. Kumar lodged a formal complaint with Chandigarh Police seeking an FIR against Kapur and Bijarniya for abetment of suicide under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and provisions under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. She demanded their immediate arrest.

Following concerns raised about incomplete information in the initial FIR, she called for its amendment to reflect all accused accurately, stating, “As per my complaint, the names of the accused (1) Shatrujeet Kapur and (2) Narendra Bijarniya have not been entered in the FIR, which was the trigger point for his (Puran Kumar’s) suicide."

Efforts are ongoing from the Haryana government to persuade Kumar’s family to consent to the post-mortem examination and cremation. On Saturday, senior officials including ministers Krishan Lal Panwar, Krishan Kumar Bedi, chief secretary Anurag Rastogi, and principal secretary to the chief minister Rajesh Khullar met with the family in an apparent bid to resolve the impasse.

The case has sparked widespread outrage, highlighting issues of caste discrimination and mental harassment within the Indian Police Service. Prominent figures and civil society have called for justice and systemic reform to prevent such tragedies.

A Special Investigation Team led by Chandigarh Police has been constituted to look into the circumstances of Kumar’s death and the serious allegations made in his suicide note.